From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter from Enzel Pilcer, Sankt Ottilien DP camp, May 1945

From the Alfred – Alf Schwarzbaum collection: Letter sent by Enzel Pilcer from the hospital at the Sankt Ottilien DP camp near Landsberg, Germany, to the Leibowitz family, 12 May 1945. 1 page, typewritten copy, in German Pilcer writes that he is from Krakow, and his been living under the assumed identiy of Eduard Przechadzki in Budapest and in Baja, Hungary. His brother Abraham was with him, using the assumed identity of Alfred Piorecki. In April 1944, Enzel was caught on the Yugoslav border and sent to concentration camps, including Dachau. He escaped, lived in the woods and was finally liberated by the US Army. He is currently hospitalized due to his bad health. Enzel asks for information about his brother and also asks Schwarzbaum to tell his brother Yitzhak in Tel Aviv that he is alive. He also asks to have the address of his uncle Morritz Horowitsch in New York. He wriotes that he needs to be treated in a sanatorium and asks to find one for him in Switzerland. Finally, he writes that parcels can be sent to him through the Red Cross. Source file: 27379 About Alfred Schwarzbaum: Alfred (Alf) Schwarzbaum was a Jewish merchant from Bedzin, Poland, who fled to Switzerland after the occupation. In Switzerland, he set up a relief enterprise, and supported hundreds of Jews. Alfred (Alf) Schwarzbaum was born in 1896 in Sosnowiec, Poland. He later moved to Bedzin, became a businessman and started a family. In late September 1939, following the German occupation of Poland, he sent his daughter to England. In November 1939, he was jailed for several weeks in Myslowice and was interrogated by the Gestapo. After his release, he turned down an offer from Mosheh Merin, head of the Sosnowiec Jewish council, to be his deputy. Using his connections and his fortune, he was able to obtain visas for Switzerland. In April 1940, he left Poland and settled in Lausanne. Schwarzbaum soon started sending out food, clothing, money and papers to Poland. He managed to navigate between the often uncoordinated Jewish and Zionist organizations based in Switzerland, to transfer financial help to Jews in Poland. He sent hundreds of parcels to German occupied localities, via Lisbon, Sweden and Turkey. He visited refugee camps in Switzerland, and corresponded with persons living under the Nazi rule. He also produced passports, which led him into trouble with the Swiss police, who feared for violation of the country's neutrality policy. In 1945, he immigrated to Mandate Palestine. In Israel, he supported funds and provided stipends for students in need, in several Israeli institutes for higher education. He died in 1990.